The aura: TikTok origins and a price tag of 20 to 50 euros

Aura: the personal magnetism being debated as a business

A guy crosses the street in an impossible shirt, skipping as he walks, according to the description given in the debate. In the next shot, a group of girls reacts with laughter and glances. The video lasts a few seconds and explains nothing else. That's how the aura enters the scene: personal magnetism debated like just another viral phenomenon, and now treated like any other internet asset — does it trade, can it be bought, can it be manufactured.

Those who defend the term insist it's "energy that radiates," something you either have or don't have, although — and this is key — they admit it can be farmed.

What is the aura and where does it come from?

The trail leads, as pointed out in the debate, to TikTok, flagged as its origin: it's not a doctrine, it's a format. Short sequences where someone walks by with confidence, someone else watches, and the editing does the rest. No thesis needed — the shot and the reaction are enough.

The reaction is, in fact, the product. What's shown are the looks and laughter of the observer, never the reason behind them. Hence the question that unsettles the enthusiasts: if the aura radiated on its own, no framing would be necessary. Show us, the skeptical side essentially says.

Can you buy the aura?

Here the conversation turns economic. Some argue the aura is nothing more than an audiovisual production with a cost. According to a circulating estimate, manufacturing someone's aura clip — reactions included — can cost between 20 and 50 euros per person appearing on screen, negotiated in advance. A casting price, not a gift.

And if the budget is tight, there's the industrial alternative: generating every take with artificial intelligence, no camera or extras needed. The math changes and the aura becomes made in server. The only genuine thing, in that reading, is the video clip itself.

Against this, defenders of the term maintain that the energy lies in the person emitting it, not in the editing. The debate resembles the one about talent versus marketing: some people cross the street with magnetism, and others just cross the street.

The aura as posturing: the other half

A good part of the audience buys neither version. For this group, the aura is pure posturing, and anyone flaunting it is making a fool of themselves without knowing it. A person's worth, they argue, isn't measured by such gestures; genuine magnetism doesn't need to be recorded.

The criticism goes beyond aesthetics. It's pointed out that feeding certain formats drags people toward the noisiest corners of the digital conversation, and that normalizing the circus takes its toll when you later want to discuss something serious.

The awkward fact remains. If the aura can be manufactured for between 20 and 50 euros per take, as that estimate claims, personal magnetism would have a price list. And if it can be farmed, as defenders of the term assert, maybe it's no longer an aura: it's stock. No one has yet clarified whether the deposit accepts it.